Subaru WRX

Editors' Rating

Price Starting at

$27,855

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Build and Price

Price Starting at

$27,855

Shop Local Cars

Build and Price

Overview

All hopped up with a hood scoop, flared fenders, and a hot-rod engine under the hood, the WRX is an Impreza on steroids. It’s available only as a sedan with a 268-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four, all-wheel drive, and a six-speed manual. A CVT is optional, but of course the manual is more fun to drive despite its wide ratios. With crisp steering and quick turn-in, the WRX carves up corners like the rally-inspired beast it is, but the ride is unforgiving over all but the smoothest roads.

2018 Subaru WRX Manual with Performance Package

Aging but still capable, fun, and precise.

Little has changed with the Subaru WRX in the last three years except the numbers it produces in our tests. A 2017 model outran the original 2015 edition by an impressive 4.0 seconds at our Lightning Lap event on Virginia International Raceway’s Grand West Course, but the 2018 example we drove for this report lagged behind earlier WRXs we’ve tested. The elephant in the room is its 5.5-second zero-to-60-mph time, 0.5 second slower than our long-term 2015 WRX. A closer look at the data is needed.

Our first test of the then new 2015 WRX produced a 6.3-second 5-to-60-mph rolling-start time. Fast-forward to today, and that time has ballooned to 7.1 seconds. That rolling start and our 30-to-50-mph and 50-to-70-mph top-gear acceleration tests all remove the highly variable launch from the results, and the ’18 WRX was slower in all three measures. Clearly this WRX, like any aging quarterback whose name doesn’t rhyme with “mom lady,” has lost a step with age. So the question becomes this: Is a less quick WRX a less good one? The answer is not really, although time, as ever, exacts a toll.

Some Things Change, Some Things Stay the Same

The WRX still comes standard with a six-speed manual transmission, but a continuously variable automatic remains optional. Under the hood, the numbers haven’t changed: The turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four zings out 268 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque. Subaru’s FA20 engine is a relatively unassuming way to make that much snort, relying on a twin-scroll turbo to deliver both the down-low yank and 15.9 pounds of maximum boost. But it’s not without burden. Wide throttle openings at low rpm yield a lumpy, uneven power delivery as the engine struggles to make big torque against the knock threshold. With its responses being consistently behind our right foot’s requests and it hanging onto revs between gears, the FA20’s drivability leaves us wishing for the crisper snap of aftermarket-tuned versions we’ve driven.

But the WRX is still good, partly because Subaru continues to pour development into it and partly because it’s a fundamentally sound machine to begin with. Since we last tested one, the WRX has seen further refinement to its suspension calibration, improving both ride and handling. The new-for-2018 Performance package adds genuinely meaningful options such as Recaro seats and higher-temperature front brake pads that all but eliminate brake fade, previously our biggest gripe. It also deletes the sunroof and is available only on Premium-trim models with the manual transmission, like our test car. These changes are manifest in ways that matter. Big ways that add up to that 4.0 seconds at VIR.

The brakes, which now better tolerate repeated lapping, made the biggest difference. At 156 feet, the WRX’s stopping distance from 70 mph is four feet shorter than the first WRX we tested and one foot shorter than our long-termer. But it’s the pads’ ability to endure the prolonged abuse of a racetrack that truly demonstrates the system’s improved performance.

The WRX’s accurate, if slow, steering also deserves plaudits. It directs a chassis that goes where it’s pointed then holds a steady, predictable line. On a racetrack, the WRX gives up little to the more hard-core WRX STI that is built from the same bones in terms of chassis performance; the WRX’s brake-based torque vectoring creates a meaningful yaw moment that helps it rotate into corners. Its 0.91 g of lateral acceleration on our skidpad is only 0.02 g behind the STI and substantially better than the front-wheel-drive Ford Focus ST, which manages only 0.87 g. The WRX will slide its tail wide if thrown wildly into corners, but corrections are easily managed by staying committed to the throttle and steering, something you’ll not have nearly as much fun doing in a front-driver. Coupled with sufficient suspension travel and damping capable of eating racetrack curbs at speed, the WRX retains its rally-car roots while demonstrating them capably in tarmac trim.

Times, They’re a-Changin’

The WRX’s biggest obstacle isn’t its performance or the driving reward it offers. It’s the simple march of time and technology and the improved competition that come with them. Since the current WRX’s introduction, an array of performance-minded Honda Civics—from the captivating Si to the serious Type R—have invaded its space, offering pricing and performance that surround it on all sides. Ford’s Focus has expanded its reach from the wake-us-up front-drive ST to the wakes-up-the-neighbors all-wheel-drive RS. The story is similar, if not as recent, with Volkswagen’s GTI and Golf R. Subaru’s current Impreza rides on a new platform, but the WRX and WRX STI won’t share it for a couple more years. Things are not getting easier for Subaru.

There’s real pressure on the brand for a value offering in the middle of this wide-latitude segment. It’s a contest it won’t win on interior design, which, like the rest of the car, springs from the six-year-old, fourth-generation Impreza. Although the Recaros improve the overall function and presentation, the interior looks its age, lacking the material quality, feature integration (Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, anyone?), and elegance of many competitors.

Our test car was the Premium trim, which brings 18-inch wheels and performance tires, heated front seats and mirrors, and an upgraded infotainment system for $2300 more than the base WRX, pushing its starting price to $30,155. Add in the Performance package and you’re looking at $32,205. If the top of the segment is represented by the $36,475 Golf R and the bottom by the $24,990 Civic Si, then the WRX comes in at about the midway point while still managing to be the least costly all-wheel-drive contender on offer. It’s not a bad place to be, but its wrinkles are showing more every day.